Directed by Carol Liu
Restoring the Light is an intimate portrait of a dedicated doctor and some of his patients in an isolated rural community in Ningxia, one of China's poorest regions. This heart-wrenching film documents the adversities and hopes of a population that has been left behind in the wake of China's dizzying economic boom.
China's new mantra, "You go through school, then you get a good job and you leave the rural areas" has created an unending flow of migrant workers streaming to prospering cities. But what happens to the faceless millions who stay behind and must struggle for basic survival and limited access to healthcare and education?
Restoring the Light follows ophthalmologist Dr. Zhang Xubinwho operates a non-profit mobile eye clinic for underprivileged rural patients as well as two families benefiting from the doctor's humanist mission. Despite a debilitating bone infection, a young woman from an illiterate farming family pursues her dream to attend university and become an artist. Her grandmother has lived in a cave dwelling for over sixty years and still toils in the field even though she has lost her vision to cataracts. Meanwhile a bright ten-year-old boy blinded by an improperly treated illness in infancy is isolated due to the lack of special education at his school. Dr. Zhang's mobile clinic brings a measure of peace to the families, but also forces reality into sharper focus.
As China rushes to become the next superpower, Restoring the Light reveals the human challenges behind the facade of a nation's rise.
Review
~ "A groundbreaking documentary exposing the overwhelming struggles of modern China not covered by the media. Every American must see this film!" - Malcolm R. Ing, MD, Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology & Chair of the Division of Ophthalmology, John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii
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